Astron. Astrophys.
331, L33–L36 (1998)
Letter to the Editor
The adoption of ICRS on 1 January 1998:
meaning and consequences
M. Feissel1 and F. Mignard2
1
IERS Central Bureau, Observatoire de Paris, URA CNRS 1125, 61 av. de l’Observatoire, F-75014 Paris, France
2
Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CERGA, UMR CNRS 6527, av. Copernic, F-06130 Grasse, France
Received 28 November 1997 / Accepted 9 December 1997
Abstract. As of 1 January 1998, the celestial reference system
adopted by the IAU will be based on a set of extragalactic di-
rections, replacing the Fundamental Katalog No 5 (FK5) that
gave star coordinates in a reference system (referred to as equa-
tor and equinox J2000) based primarily on the dynamics of the
solar system. This change is deeper than a mere replacement of
a reference system by a better one. It implies a drastic modifica-
tion in the underlying concepts and has practical consequences
at various levels for the users needing the best astrometric ac-
curacy. The IAU decision begins a new era in the definition of
reference systems and marks a sharp break with the practice of
the last three hundred years characterized by the long series of
fundamental star catalogues.
1. Historical background
1.1. The quasi-inertial frame
Adopting extragalactic directions as primary celestial references
instead of star positions has been envisioned for over a decade
by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). A series of
Working Groups was organized jointly by several IAU com-
missions mainly to establish lists of objects appropriate for ob-
servation by Very Long Baseline radio Interferometry (VLBI)
at wavelengths of 13 and 3.6 cm. VLBI is the technique that
measures most efficiently directions of compact extragalactic
radio sources, reaching sub-milliarsecond (mas) accuracy.
A decisive breakthrough was the formulation by the Work-
ing Group on Reference Systems (1988-1991) of a comprehen-
sive group of recommendations that dealt with both the funda-
mental concepts of space-time references and their actual real-
izations. During the 1991-1994 term, the IAU Working Group
on Reference Frames (WGRF) produced a list of about 600 radio
sources that could be used to realize an extragalactic celestial
reference system, provided that careful observations could tie
them together into a consistent system. Meanwhile the Interna-
tional Earth Rotation Service (IERS) had initiated and devel-
oped operational procedures to maintain the celestial reference
Send offprint requests to: M. Feissel (e-mail: feissel@obspm.fr)
ASTRONOMY
LETTER
AND
ASTROPHYSICS
system. During the 1994-1997 term, the WGRF concluded this
preparatory phase by recommending that the 1997 IAU General
Assembly adopt the IERS celestial reference system under the
name International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) and to
charge the IERS to maintain its realization, the ICRF (Interna-
tional Celestial Reference Frame), in cooperation with an IAU
working group on reference frames.
The fixed directions underlying the FK5 (Fricke et al. 1988)
and the preceding fundamental star catalogues of positions and
proper motions were defined by the mean equator and equinox
at a reference epoch (J2000.0 for the FK5, B1950 for the FK4),
which implied dynamical modelling of the Earth’s orbital mo-
tion (ecliptic, equinox) for the realization of the reference frame
and its subsequent access. In the past, these fundamental di-
rections were considered conventional for some decades; they
were changed from time to time, in particular to take advan-
tage of advances in modelling of the motion of solar system
objects. As was originally proposed by Guinot (1979), the IAU,
in its 1991 Recommendations on Reference Systems (Bergeron
1992), decided to select distant extragalactic objects as the ba-
sis of its new celestial reference system and to adopt directions
that would remain fixed with respect to a selected set of these
objects. Continuity between the old and new system was manda-
tory so that these directions would be consistent with their pre-
vious realizations, i.e., the pole and origin of right ascensions
in the new reference system should be close to the FK5 pole
and right ascension origin, within the uncertainties of the FK5.
A fundamental advantage of selecting extragalactic objects is
that they are so distant that their proper motions are currently
undetectable, even by the most precise techniques. More quan-
titatively, if we assume that the tangential velocity of a distant
extragalactic object is comparable to its recession speed, the an-
gular motion would be given by the Hubble constant, or about
0.01 mas/a.
According to the new rules adopted in the 1991 IAU Rec-
ommendations, the fundamental directions of the celestial refer-
ence system will remain fixed in space, as long as the directions
of the distant extragalactic sources can be regarded as fixed di-
rections. They will no longer be dependent on precise modelling
 L34 M. Feissel & F. Mignard: The adoption of ICRS on 1 January 1998:meaning and consequences
LETTER
of the motion of solar system objects and on the definition of
the equinox by means of the celestial equator and the ecliptic.
The adopted positions of the defining sources may be re-
estimated when improved information is available, but the di-
rection of the coordinate axes will be maintained by implement-
ing the statistical condition that the new coordinates of selected
sources show no global rotation with respect to the old set. It
is also foreseen that some sources may be deleted or new ones
could be added in the future. This will be done by adhering
strictly to a predefined procedure.
In order that the use of this new reference system should not
be detrimental to the analysis of the highly accurate astrometric
techniques, the IAU explicitly introduced the Theory of General
Relativity as the background for all theoretical and data analysis
problems related to time and space.
1.2. The IAU Resolutions
At its 23rd General Assembly in August 1997, the IAU decided
(Appenzeller 1998),
– That, as from 1 January 1998, the IAU celestial reference
system shall be the International Celestial Reference System
(ICRS) as specified in the 1991 IAU Resolution on Ref-
erence Systems and as defined by the International Earth
Rotation Service (IERS);
– That the corresponding fundamental reference frame shall
be the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) con-
structed by the IAU Working Group on Reference Frames;
– That the Hipparcos Catalogue shall be the primary realiza-
tion of the ICRS at optical wavelengths;
– That IERS should take appropriate measures, in conjunc-
tion with the IAU Working Group on Reference Frames, to
maintain the ICRF and its ties to the reference frames at
other wavelengths.
In the next two sections we briefly describe the ICRS, the
ICRF and the Hipparcos catalogue, summarize the basic prin-
ciples of the maintenance of the ICRF, and list the main conse-
quences of the change.
2. ICRS and ICRF, Hipparcos, FK5, Equator and Equinox
By Reference System it is meant the set of prescriptions and
conventions together with the modelling required to define, at
any time, a triad of axes.
By Reference Frame it is meant a practical realization with
given fiducial directions agreeing with the concepts introduced
in the corresponding Reference System.
2.1. ICRS: The International Celestial Reference System
The ICRS (Arias et al. 1995) complies with the conditions speci-
fied by the 1991 IAU Recommendations. The origin of the ICRS
axes is located at the barycentre of the solar system and the di-
rections of its axes are fixed relative to distant extragalactic
sources. For the sake of continuity with the FK5 pole, the ICRS
pole is in the J2000.0 direction defined by the conventional IAU
models for precession (Lieske et al. 1977) and nutation (Sei-
delmann 1982). The origin of right ascensions is also defined
consistently with that of the FK5 by fixing the right ascension
of 3C 273B to the Hazard et al. (1971) FK4 value transformed
to the J2000(FK5) System (Kaplan et al. 1982).
The Hipparcos star positions and proper motions (ESA
1997) and the JPL solar system ephemerides (starting with
DE403, see Standish 1997) are already expressed in the ICRS
and several new catalogues (Urban et al. 1997a,b) in the visible
have been aligned with the Hipparcos system, the latter being
used as a secondary realization of the ICRS. The International
Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS), also maintained and made
available by the IERS as the International Terrestrial Reference
Frame (ITRF), is connected to the ICRS at any time by the IERS
Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) with an accuracy equiva-
lent to 1 cm at the surface of the Earth.
2.2. ICRF: The International Celestial Reference Frame
The choice of extragalactic objects to realize the fiducial di-
rections was made possible by the availability of a mature and
highly precise observing technique, Very Long Baseline radio
Interferometry (VLBI). A detailed description of astrometric
and geodetic VLBI analysis is given by Sovers and Jacobs
(1996). The major sets of software in use for this modelling have
been intensively tested and compared to each other. They are
considered to be implemented consistently within one picosec-
ond for the delay and one femtosecond/second for the delay rate,
one order of magnitude better than the observations (Jacobs et
al. 1997).
The ICRF consists of a catalogue of equatorial coordinates
of 608 extragalactic radio sources derived from about 1.6 million
observations accumulated by a worldwide network over 1979-
1995. It was derived by a sub-group of the WGRF that agreed
on an optimal data analysis strategy (Ma et al. 1998). It includes
three lists of objects, with
1. the most compact and best observed 212 defining sources,
with a median uncertainty of 0.4 mas on individual positions,
2. compact sources (294) whose positions are likely to be im-
proved when more observations are accumulated in the fu-
ture,
3. sources less appropriate for astrometric purposes (102), but
which are provided for possible ties of reference frames at
other wavelengths or for other objectives.
The accuracy of the ICRF realization of the ICRS axes is esti-
mated to be 0.02 mas.
Extensive information on the ICRF is available in (Ma &
Feissel 1997) and electronically (anonymous ftp and WWW
site: hpiers.obspm.fr).
2.3. The Hipparcos Catalogue and the ICRF
The direct result of the data processing of the Hipparcos observa-
tions was a catalogue of astrometric positions for about 120 000
 M. Feissel & F. Mignard: The adoption of ICRS on 1 January 1998:meaning and consequences L35

LETTER
Table 1. Global orientation and spin between the FK5 and the ICRS at Table 2. ICRS coordinates of the mean celestial pole (x , y ) and of
J2000.0. The Hipparcos Catalogue has been used as intermediate frame the equinox (z ), see Fig. 1.
and the uncertainties propagated accordingly (Mignard & Froeschlé
Orientation (mas)
1997).
J2000.0 σ
Orientation (mas) Spin(mas/a)
J2000.0 σ σ x : - 5.1 0.01
y : 17.2 0.01
x : -19.9 2.3 ωx : -0.30 0.27 z : -78 10
y : - 9.1 2.3 ωy : 0.60 0.27
z : 22.9 2.3 ωz : 0.70 0.27

PJ2000
•5.1 mas
stars of exceptionally good precision and free of regional er-
ror at the level of 0.1 mas. The intermediate frame in which
these positions and proper motions were given was still arbi- 17.2 mas
trary. A connection between the intermediate Hipparcos frame
and the ICRS was carried out by using various data and methods PICRS
• α = 6h
(Lindegren & Kovalevsky 1975; Kovalevsky et al. 1997). The
resulting alignment of the published Hipparcos Catalogue with 9.1 mas
the ICRS was eventually realized with standard errors for each
axis of 0.6 mas for the orientation at J1991.25 and 0.25 mas/a PFK5 • 19.9 mas
for the spin. Consequently the Hipparcos Catalogue provides
the master realization of the ICRS in the optical domain with
the above uncertainties. α = 0h

22.9 mas 78 mas

2.4. The FK5 and the ICRS
As the complete FK5 catalogue was observed by Hipparcos,
the directions of the pole and origin of right ascensions of the
FK5 relative to Hipparcos were determined, with an accuracy
of 2.3 mas at the mean epoch J1991.25. The relative spin be-
tween the FK5 and Hipparcos frames was also assessed from
the systematic deviations between the proper motions, with an
accuracy of 0.1 mas/a. Eventually the directions of the FK5
axes in the ICRS were estimated (Table 1), taking into account
the propagation of the uncertainty of the Hipparcos tie to the
ICRS. The modelling of the FK5 non global deformations af-
fect marginally the estimation of the orientation and spin.
The infinitesimal angles x , y , z are defined as direct ro-
tations around the ICRS axes pointing in the directions α = 0
h, α = 6 h, δ = 90◦ respectively; ωx , ωy , ωz are defined as their
corresponding time derivatives.
2.5. The mean pole and equinox at J2000.0 in the ICRS
• • • α
Ο FK5 Ο ICRS γ J2000
Fig. 1. Location of the poles and the origin of right ascensions of the
FK5 and that of the celestial pole and equinox at J2000.0 with respect
to the ICRS (values of Tables 1 & 2).
DE200, Folkner et al. (1994) derived the offset of the mean
equinox at J2000.0 relative to the ICRS origin of right ascen-
sions. Resulting values are summarized in Table 2.
The infinitesimal rotations of Tables 1 and 2 can be trans-
formed into the coordinates of the poles on a plane tangent to
the ICRS pole, as shown in Fig. 1. The position of the origins
of right ascensions are also depicted along the equator.
3. Practical consequences of the adoption of the
ICRS/ICRF

According to their authors, the realizations of the mean pole and
equinox at J2000.0 by means of the FK5 (Fricke et al. 1988)
have respective uncertainties of 50 mas and 80 mas. VLBI and
Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) allow more accurate determination
of these physical directions in the ICRS.
Using a state of the art precession-nutation model (Mc-
Carthy 1996), the analysis of long VLBI series of the observed
motion of the celestial pole in the ICRS allows us to derive
the coordinates of the mean pole at J2000.0 in the ICRS (IERS
1997). Combining VLBI and LLR Earth orientation and terres-
trial reference frames and using the JPL planetary ephemeris
Kovalevsky & McCarthy (1997) have considered the various
consequences of the change from the J2000 Reference System
to ICRS, with particular emphasis on the conceptual aspects.
We summarize hereafter the consequences in every-day life of
the astronomers.
– For all uses with accuracy requirement less stringent than
50 mas, the adoption of ICRS has no significant effect.
– There is no epoch attached to the system, i.e., future updates
of the ICRF will not change the ICRS origin and that of its
defining directions.
 L36 M. Feissel & F. Mignard: The adoption of ICRS on 1 January 1998:meaning and consequences
LETTER
– Changes of stellar positions between two epochs are derived
by allowing for proper motion. The new positions are still
referred to the ICRS.
– For precise applications, the IERS 1996 precession-nutation
model (McCarthy 1996) or the celestial pole offsets pub-
lished by the IERS should be used, rather than the less accu-
rate IAU conventional models. The IERS 1996 model being
referred to the mean pole at J2000.0 that is offset from the
ICRS one, two additional constants must be used in order to
refer the motion to the ICRS pole. Estimates of these con-
stants corresponding to Fig. 1 are - 43.1 mas in longitude
(-17.2 mas/sin ) and - 5.1 mas in obliquity (IERS 1997).
– The direction of celestial objects in the ICRS are consistent
with the terrestrial coordinates in the ITRS by the use of the
IERS Earth orientation parameters (universal time, polar
motion, precession-nutation).
The IAU Division 1 (Fundamental Astronomy) has set up an
ICRS Working Group, in charge of studying all consequences of
the adoption of the ICRS, and proposing solutions. This Work-
ing Group is chaired by François Mignard.
References
Appenzeller I. (ed.), 1998, Proceedings of the 23rd General Assembly,
Transactions of the IAU 23B.
Arias E. F., Charlot P., Feissel M., Lestrade J.-F., 1995, A&A, 303,
604.
Bergeron J. (ed.), 1992, Proceedings of the 21st General Assembly,
Transactions of the IAU 21B, 41.
ESA, 1997, The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues, ESA SP-1200.
Folkner W.M., Charlot P., Finger M.H., et al., 1994, A&A, 287, 279.
Fricke W., Schwan H., Lederle T., 1988, Fifth Fundamental Catalogue
(FK5), Part I. Veroff. Astron. Rechen Inst. 32, Heidelberg.
Guinot B., 1979, Basic problems in the kinematics of the rotation of the
Earth, Proc. IAU Symp. 82, Time and the Earth’s Rotation, D.D.
McCarthy, J.D.H. Pilkington eds., D. Reidel - Dordrecht, 7.
Hazard C., Sutton J., Argue A.N., Kenworthy C.N., Morrison L.V.,
Murray C.A., 1971, Nature Phys. Sci., 233, 89.
IERS, 1997, 1996 Annual Report, Observatoire de Paris, II-38, II-73.
Jacobs C.S., Sovers O.J., Gordon D., Ma C., Gontier A.-M., 1997, The
accuracy of the ICRF: an intercomparison of VLBI analysis soft-
ware, JD7, 23rd IAU General Assembly (August 1997). Highlights
in Astronomy.
Kaplan G.H., Josties F.J., Angerhofer P.E., Johnston K.J., Spencer J.H.,
1982, AJ, 87, 570
Kovalevsky J., McCarthy D., 1997, Astronomical effects of current
changes in fundamental astrometric references, JD3, 23rd IAU
General Assembly (August 1997). Highlights in Astronomy.
Kovalevsky J., Lindegren L., Perryman M., 1997, A&A, in press.
Lieske J.H., Lederle T., Fricke W., Morando B., 1977, A&A, 58, 1.
Lindegren L., Kovalevsky J., 1995, A&A, 304, 189.
Ma C., Feissel M., 1997, Definition and Realization of the International
Celestial Reference System by VLBI Astrometry of Extragalactic
Objects, IERS Technical Note No 23, Observatoire de Paris.
Ma C., Arias E.F., Eubanks T.M, Fey A.L, Gontier A.-M, Jacobs C.S.,
Sovers O.J., Archinal B.A., Charlot P., 1998, The International
Celestial Reference Frame as realized by Very Long Baseline In-
terferometry, AJ, submitted.
McCarthy D.D.(ed.), 1996, IERS Conventions (1996), IERS Technical
Note No 21, Observatoire de Paris.
Mignard F., Froeschlé M., 1997, Linking the FK5 to the ICRF, JD12,
23rd IAU General Assembly (August 1997). Highlights in Astron-
omy.
Seidelmann P.K., 1982, 1980 IAU Nutation: Celest. Mech., 27, 79.
Sovers O.J., Jacobs C.S., 1996, Observation model and parameter par-
tials for the JPL VLBI parameter estimation software MODEST,
JPL Publ. 83-39, Rev. 6, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Cal-
ifornia.
Standish E.M., 1997, Linking the Dynamical Reference Frame to the
ICRF, JD7, 23rd IAU General Assembly (August 1997). Highlights
in Astronomy.
Urban S.E., Corbin T.E., Wycoff G.L., 1997a, The ACT Reference
Catalog, AJ, in preparation.
Urban S.E., Corbin T.E., Wycoff G.L., Martin J.C., Jackson
E.S., Zacharias M.I., Hall D.M., 1997b, The AC 2000: The As-
trographic Catalogue on the Hipparcos System, AJ, in preparation.
This article was processed by the author using Springer-Verlag LATEX
A&A style file L-AA version 3.